Monday, September 14, 2026 - Newly declassified CIA files have revealed that Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network identified India among several countries where it intended to carry out terrorist attacks before the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
A presidential intelligence brief dated August 28, 1998, listed India and Pakistan alongside Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Uganda and possibly Nigeria as potential targets. The disclosure is part of the CIA's release of 71 intelligence products marking the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
The documents provide a clearer picture of how seriously US intelligence viewed bin Laden's international network years before 9/11. However, the 1998 assessment does not identify a specific Indian target, planned attack date or operational details.
Instead, it shows that American intelligence had assessed bin Laden's ambitions as extending beyond the United States and that India was already considered part of the threat landscape.
The revelation adds urgency to the broader findings from the newly released intelligence records, which document repeated warnings about al-Qaeda's plans and capabilities before the 2001 attacks.
The files show that US agencies were tracking bin Laden's network, including concerns over hijackings, attacks on American interests and unconventional weapons. The latest disclosures are likely to fuel renewed scrutiny of what governments knew about the growing terrorist threat—and how effectively those warnings were acted upon.
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